In the pines In the park
by Catnipisnotonfire12
Summary: SPOILERS FOR TWDG S1 AND S2 (up to ep 4). It's over. Clementine ran, and she ran fast, away from the casualties of the shooting. It was just her luck the bullets drew the attention of a herd of walkers. After getting bit, she wanders aimlessly. Until she finds a park. Old, rustic, and abandoned. Just like the one her parents used to take her to. Character death.
1. Chapter 1

**In the pines. In the park. **

**SPOILERS FOR TWDG S1 AND S2 (up to ep 4). It's over. Clementine ran, and she ran fast, away from the casualties of the shooting. It was just her luck the bullets drew the attention of a herd of walkers. After getting bit, she wanders aimlessly. Until she finds a park. Old, rustic, and abandoned. Just like the one her parents used to take her to. Character death. **

** Characters: Clementine, Rebecca's baby, group, Arvo and his group, walkers. **

She'd tried to stop the fire, but really she'd started it all. Clementine may not have stolen from Arvo, but his large, trigger-happy Russian crew were certainly ready to go on their friend's world.

Maybe if Clem had called for help, instead of shooting Rebecca, the shooting wouldn't have started. All she wanted to do, Jane's words heavy in her mind, was stop the baby from getting bit, or hurt, or both. In hindsight, it was obvious it would sound like an open attack to start firing. All she knew was that there was going to be casualties, deaths, and she needed to get out of there.

Ducking, she fired random shots as she ran through the groups and past Rebecca's body and the crying baby boy. For a moment, she thought about rescuing him, but Rebecca's corpse - no matter how morbid that sounded - was shielding him. It would have only put Clem and the baby at more risk.

The rims of her jeans soaked with melted snow, Clementine kept running till her lungs could no longer take in breath and her legs were tired and wet with falling snow. Which wasn't very far, still close enough to hear the shouting voices of both groups faintly. Reminded of a few days ago - just a few days, it was hard to believe - when she was separated from Christa, all alone, cold and scared, she backed up into a fallen tree.

Taking rest, the gunshots were still firing, but faintly in the distance. The air was icy cold, but the snow falling was irregular due to the branches and their few leaves above her. Clem closed her eyes for a moment, the smell of snow and gunpowder and pines all mingled together reminded her of a warped memory of playing with her parents in the snow just before Christmas. When was Christmas? Soon? Had it already passed? Clementine missed the simple thing of knowing the date and time. When she didn't just have to rely on judgement and the weather.

A groaning could be heard in the distance. Eyes flying open, Clem's hand was immediately on the trigger of her gun. The groans became louder, closer, and Clem looked around to try and find the source of the noise.

"Hello?" She called, warily lifting her gun. More groaning. "Shoot," Clementine muttered under her breath as it dawned on her what it was. The dead walking became easier to see. "Walkers," she confirmed to herself.

Raising her gun, she fired a shot. It hit a walker dead in between the eyes. More began to follow, and Clem continued to shoot.

Voices, shouts, could be heard in the distance.

"ARE THOSE MORE OF YOUR PEOPLE? SHOOTIN' OUT THERE, HUH, YOU SON OF A BITCH?" It sounded like Kenny. "NOW IVE HAD A SHITTY FUCKIN' DAY, SO DON'T YOU LIE TO ME, ASSHOLE,"

"NO, NO, I SWEAR, NO," Arvo yelled. "PLEASE, STOP SHOOTING, WE WILL GO AS SOON AS YOU, UH, соответствовать. MATCH, UH, CONFORM? IT IS THE LITTLE GIRLS FAULT. CLEMENTINE. YOU MUST CARE ABOUT THE LITTLE GIRL, SO PROTECT HER."

More gunfire. Clementine continued to shoot, keeping the walkers at a safe distance.

"WAIT," it was Luke's voice. "WHERE'S CLEM?"

"LUKE!" Clementine yelled.

"CLEM?" He yelled back. Suddenly, the groaning got louder, and the voices stopped. A walker reached behind Clem. She whipped around and shot it's temple. She carried on shooting, but her gun wasn't firing.

"Shit," she yelled. Grabbing the screwdriver Jane had given her, she kicked walker's knees and stabbed the backs of their necks. "Come on, Clem," she said through gritted teeth as the walkers kept coming ten fold, "just like Jane showed you."

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GOIN'?" Kenny suddenly yelled.

"NOT ARGUING WITH YOU THIS TIME KENNY," Luke shouted back. "Clementine!"

Clementine couldn't help it. Her face lit up. "LU-" she was cut odd by two hands around her ankle. Screaming, she kicked the walker off, stabbing it in the back of the neck. Whilst she was down, she felt a rip in the side of her jacket.

"NO!" She yelled, stabbing the neck of the walker singing it's teeth into her waist.

"Shit, shit, shit, no. NO!" Clementine screeched. Dropping the screwdriver, she ran in any direction, zig-zagging like a maniac. Luke was probably calling her name, but it didn't matter. Her mind racing, she kept running.

Running. Running until her legs hurt, then some. Running to the point she couldn't breathe and her limbs shoot and eyes watered. Just running.

The gunfire was inaudible now. So was the groaning of the walkers. Pulling off her jacket, she let the coat fall into the snow. Blood was falling behind her, a trail trickling from her waist. She wasn't cold anymore. She didn't feel anything.

"No," she whispered to herself. "It doesn't end like this. I can't end like this. No. Lee..." She trailed off into nothing.

Falling into the snow, she let her fingers to cold and icy and numb. Another sound. Creaking. Clementine could here creaking.

Wind was blowing quietly behind her. Turning around, she saw it. A swing, swaying back and forth slowly and barely in the breeze. A roundabout, a slide, a set of monkey bars and a tunnel. It was a park, one that was rusted and old and squeaking and hadn't been used in years. Probably since before the apocalypse.

Before she could consciously make her decision, Clementine found herself standing up and walking towards the slide. She sat at the top and slid down, and found herself doing - of all things - giggling.

Repeating several times, she moved onto the roundabout. Kicking the snowy ground to get it spinning, she sat on the rail and watched the world blur into an array of out of focus colours. Her head was spinning when it stopped.

A few hours later and she was swinging along the monkey bars, until loosing her grip.

Coughing, her hands shook. She wasn't cold. Or hot. Or anything. She felt tingly, and numb, but not in the way the snow made her feel. "Holy shit," she whispered. "This- this isn't right."

She tried to play more, but her bones felt stiff and head was throbbing. So she went to the squeaking of the swing, and sat down.

Closing her eyes, Clem launched herself back and swung backwards and forwards, gaining speed and height. It reminded her of all the times her dad pushed her on the swings, and all the times her mother fretted Clem was going far too high.

Or when Lee pushed her at the St. John Dairy.

Opening her eyes, she was forced back to reality. Too tired to swing, she just held onto the chains and waited for it to lose momentum. It was swinging slowly, her feet nearly touching the ground, when Clem heard running.

Arms heavy and weak, she raised her gun. It may be empty, but her attacker didn't know that.

"Clementine!" A voice rang out. Luke's. "Clemen- oh, there you are!" He stopped in his tracks, pausing and panting. "I thought we'd lost you there! When I saw your screwdriver, and jacket and blood, I thought you were dead. Or bitten. Who am I kidding, though? You're a fighter. Not nothing that's gon' get rid of you for a while yet, huh Clem?" Luke grinned. "Clem?" He repeated when she didn't respond.

She didn't know how to sugarcoat it. So she didn't. "When I was little, I loved parks. My parents always took me, every week at the least. I've missed it."

"Clem, I, I don't understa-"

"I'm bit, Luke." She deadpanned.

"What?"

"I said I'm bit!" Clementine snapped. "Bit. Bitten. Chomped by a walker. Infected. Dead girl waking. Whatever you want to call it." She hissed. Laughing, a little manically, she added "Not by a dog this time, either. I don't even have ammo to make sure I don't turn." She whimpered.

"Oh my...Oh my God Clementine, when?" Luke jumped the iron railings surrounding the park, sitting on the swing next to her.

"You were calling me, and I called back." She lifted her shirt a little, revealing a gaping wound on her waist. Pushing her top back down, Clem carried on. "Let my guard down. Chomped right through me."

"Oh my...fuck. Fuck, fuck it." Luke snapped. "It's all my fucking fault," he threw the machete that was still in his hand into the snow. "Fucking Hell. Find a person to rely on when the group goes to shit and then this happens. Nick's mother, Pete then Nick. Fucking Nick. Asshole. I never said goodbye to that asshole. Then I have a hissy fit over a chick I barely knew, then this. What the fuck is wrong with me. All I do is whine and get people killed!"

"No, it's not. I would have called for you anyway. I'd have been distracted anyway. This is an apocalypse, Luke. People die. People cause other people to die. I've caused my share of stupid deaths, accident or not. It sucks, but it's how it is." Clementine trailed off with a whimper as she grabbed the bite.

"Are you okay?" Luke scoffed. "What am I saying. 'Course you're not okay. Eleven year old kid telling me 'it sucks, but it's how it is' about an apocalypse. You're supposed to be throwing tantrums because you can't get ice cream or you gotta go to bed or be panicking about starting high school. Not...this. Fuck man."

"Doesn't matter. Not anymore." Clementine began coughing violently. "Just, promise me you're going to live. Live as long as you can. 'Cause you have to go back and help the group. You're the only original member left, Luke. You and the Rebecca's baby. Just leave me a gun, please. I don't want to turn."

"Clem, I-"

"I'm a little girl. You all say that. Always. I might be tough, but I'm still eleven. I still love parks and pink and stickers and rainbows. So now I'm asking, don't let a little girl turn into a walker."

Luke looked as if he were about to say something, but instead looked down to the floor. He handed Clem his gun. "I'll miss you, Clem." He hugged her, and she relaxed into his embrace. "Huh, we've come a long way from when I refused to carry you over a dog bite."

"Rebecca said something similar," Clem sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes. "Take this, Luke. I don't want some looter having it," she said, removing her hat. "It was my dad's. Don't lose it, or I'll haunt you." She grinned through the tears, but it was shaky.

"I won't. I swear it, I won't lose it Clem."

There were shouts, and shots.

"FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE. WHERE THE FUCK ARE LUKE AND CLEMENTINE?"

"Sounds like Kenny's not going out without a fight." Luke shrugged.

Clem whispered, eyes drooping. "It was always his way. Tell him, and this is directly from Clem, to stop being so stupid and hold grudges for every little thing. It will make his life easier. Oh, and if you find a girl named Christa, tell her what happened since I met you guys."

"This is an awful lot of requests, Clem." Luke tried to joke. "Don't know if I should'a looked for ya,"

"I'll request for you to shut your mouth if you keep going." Clem grinned back. She started to cough violently. "I think I'm done playing, Luke."

"Clementine..."

"Go, please. You don't need to see this," Clem whispered. "The baby...The group..."

"I'm not goin' anywhere, Clem." Luke muttered.

It was still snowing. Clementine could smell the pines and the rust of the old park equipment.

"Then stand back. Luke, thank you."

The shot rang out for miles. Luke closed Clementine's eyes. Her grip was still on the swing's chains.

"Keep playing, kid. You're safe now."

**First TWDG fanfiction. Was that okay? I hope so. Please review. **

**-Catnipisnotonfire12**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two **

**Luke tells the group what happened. **

He stared at Clementine's body for a moment. She looked peaceful; for a girl who's brains were splattered onto the snow. If Luke ignored that part, though, (which was very tricky to do) she was just a little girl playing in a park in the snow.

"I'll miss you havin' my back, Clem. Hope you enjoy playing up there, 'cause you sure as Hell deserve it." Luke said, unsure of what to do. It felt wrong, leaving her, but he had to. When he left the shooting, Rebecca was dead, the baby was crying, Bonnie had a bullet wound on her hip, Kenny was shooting like a maniac and the tattooed Russian man had a bullet through his brain. And that was just what he managed to see.

"GET YOUR FUCKIN' HANDS OFF ME YOU BASTARD!" Was the first thing Luke heard as he came across the group again. They weren't on the road anymore, but deep into the forest. "YOU'RE NOT GETTIN' SHIT!"

"Вы имели свой гребаный шанс, поэтому мы делаем это на своей шкуре. Скажите им, Arvo. Они получают все они заслуживают!" The blonde girl snapped. The firing had ceased, but guns were still raised, bodies were on the floor, and blood was pooling in the snow.

"What'd she just say?" Mike shouted. "Come on, what was it?"

"You had your chance," Arvo said. "Now you are getting what you deserve."

"It weren't us, we swear it!" Bonnie yelled. "You were there, right? None of us were there, Clementine's run to cover and Jane left last week! So stop shootin', there's been deaths and casualties on both our parts, just let us be on our way!"

Another one of Arvo's group yelled in Russian. Arvo repeated it in English. "You, none of you have died. You have killed one of our own. Buriko, he is dead because of you!" He pointed to Kenny. "Now you can surrender or we will shoot until we win. And we always win,"

"That's not true!" Luke interrupted. Heads turned to him.

"You! Where the fuck did you run off to?" Kenny yelled.

"Shut up for once, would you Kenny?" Snapped Luke. "Clementine, the girl you claim robbed you. I went after her. She's dead. So we're..." Luke forced the next bit through his teeth, as if Clementine was nothing but disposable. "...We're even, okay? You got your meds, we got our injured. This could have been prevented if y'all weren't so Goddamn trigger happy, so fuck off because the only thing you're gonna get out of us is your lives."

Arvo quickly started talking in Russian. The gang nodded to each other. "You are lying. The girl is hidden. COME OUT, CLEMENTINE! MAKE THIS EASIER ON YOUR GROUP!"

"Man, it's been fucking hours. If she was gonna do something, she would of. Here-" he pulled out Clementine's blood-soaked hat. "-if this ain't enough for ya, keep looking. There's a playground, it ain't far from here. You'll see her. Bullet through her head and bite mark on her waist. Now move the Hell on - 'cause the mood I'm in, my offer to let y'all leave with your lives is runnin' outta time real fast."

Arvo began to talk in Russian. They all started ranting back. After several minutes, Arvo lowered his gun, as did the others. "An eye for an eye. If you come across our territory again, we shall not be so merciful." Arvo finally said.

Kenny spat on the snow. "'Merciful' my ass. Bullshit."

"Kenny..." Warned Mike. Slowly, Arvo's group disbanded. It was a full minute of silence to make sure they're completely gone for Kenny to start laughing.

"Fuckin' genius, Clementine. Fucking genius." He grinned. "Come on out, now, those assholes are gone!"

"Kenny, I, I don't think that-" Bonnie began, but Kenny just kept laughing. He strides through the woods briskly as he spoke.

"That kid's smarts ain't never gon' cease to amaze me." He started to clap, the sound echoing around the woods. "Well done Clementine!"

"Kenny, I weren't lying," Luke deadpanned, looking down at the ground. "She got bit when she ran off, she's-"

All the humour from Kenny's voice disappeared. "You can stop fuckin' pretending, Vanilla Ice junior. They're gone, okay?" He began running through the woods, shouting Clementine's name.

"Holy shit," Mike said. "I can't believe it. He's off like a Goddamn madman again, and now the only voice of reason is..." Mike shook his head. "Bonnie, get the baby. We got to go after him,"

"Will do," Bonnie said, scooping up the baby. "Won't be surprised if we deafened this poor baby with all those shots. Clementine will take care of him." She stopped herself. "Oh, right." She whispered. "C'mon, city mouse, let's go looking for your mad uncle Kenny."

Following the trail of blood, and shouting from afar, they found Kenny. Kneeling down, in front of a swing set, surrounded by blood and pines and snow.

"No. Not you too. You were the only one left..." Kenny murmured.

"Oh, my..." Bonnie said, raising a hand to her mouth. The baby began to cry. "Ssh, lil one." She cooed, rocking the baby in her arms.

"Kenny man, I'm so sor-" Mike began, pulling his hood over his head.

"Shut up. Shut the fuck up. You barely knew her! My wife and kid, my friends, my girlfriend, now Clem's gone too! Shut the fuck up, asshole!" Kenny roared, turning to glare at the remainders to the group.

"Kenny, you're not the only one who loved Clem like family, okay? In fact, sometimes I'd say you were the only one who didn't!" Luke snapped.

"The fuck are you talking about?" Kenny retorted.

"You know what were some of Clementine's last words were? 'This is an apocalypse, Luke. People die. People cause other people to die. I've caused my share of stupid deaths, accident or not. It sucks, but it's how it is.' Word for fucking word. A little kid told me that this is how it is now. So yeah, people have died. You expected they wouldn't or something? Now instead of acting like a fucking adult, you're yelling and screaming and throwing a fucking tantrum like always. Clem was more mature than you! Oh, and if I remember rightly, the last few days you've been fucking horrible to her. So think before you do, because maybe if you had, Duck and Katie - or whatever she was called - and Sarita and CLEMENTINE would have gone on just a little longer."

Luke didn't mean to rant like that, but once he finished he could feel his heart pounding and body shaking. They were all stunned to silence; sound only coming from the crying baby in Bonnie's arms.

"Here, let me take her." Mike offered. "You got a real bad bullet wound there."

Kenny turned around fully to face Luke. "What do you fuckin' know about anything, kid?"

"See, there you go again! Clementine asked me to do something, to tell you something actually, Kenny." Luke said.

Kenny softened slightly. "Oh?"

"Yeah, and this is word for motherfuckin' word, okay? 'Tell him, tell Kenny, and this is directly from Clem, to stop being so stupid and hold grudges for every little thing. It will make his life easier.' If that don't have no impact on you - a dying eleven year old seein' there's something up with your behaviour and tryin' to change it - then you're a cold, bitter old man who I Goddamn pity." Luke put his machete back into its sheath. "Now, we were headin' to the town, right?" When no one moved, no one said anything, Luke yelled louder. "RIGHT?"

"Yeah, right,"

"I think so,"

"That was the plan."

"So does anyone have anything else to say before we move it? We've lost two people in the space of a few hours, for cryin' out loud." Luke said.

Bonnie stepped forward, clutching her wound. "I'm sorry for how we met, Clem, and I'm grateful for what you said in the museum. I'm thankful you forgave me, and...I don't know what to say. Hope it's beautiful up there, kid, because you really deserve it."

Mike began to nod. "Look kid, I've known you for what - four, five days? A week? Which ain't a lot, but you're the toughest...I'm not gonna say kid, because if I remember rightly I told you that you were tough for my size. Which is true, I don't doubt you went down without a fight. So I guess I'm glad I met you before this shit went down, okay?" Mike shrugged. "Okay, I suppose."

Luke felt heartless, saying what he said next. Seeing that girl, brains splattered as she sat forever frozen in a state of playtime, knowing he was speaking to her not an hour before was horrifying. Nick, Pete, Clementine, Rebecca, Carlos, Sarah. Everyone that had died. He had barely shown any pain, and it was all coming down now. Everything that should have been said but wasn't. Everything that shouldn't of happened but did. "Now, that was touchin' an all, but we really gotta go. Kenny?"

Kenny stood up silently. "I wasn't nice to Lee unless he stuck his neck out for me. Even then I barely appreciated it. I snapped at you, Hell at first I even refused to go help find you when that madman took you to the Marsh House. The last I saw of Katjaa was her killin' herself in front of our son, before Lee shot Duck to stop him turning. When I tried to save that ass Ben I left Lee when he was bit because I didn't fucking care. Then I found Sarita, then Walter and Matthew, then of all the people to show up - it was you. I always wondered whether or not Lee saved you. I treated you like shit because this is an apocalypse and I was stupid enough not to acknowledge people die. People are dying. All the fucking time. Now, I'm not sayin' I can change as quick as anything, but I guess all I can say is I'll try. If not for you, for Lee, for Sarita, for Katjaa and Duck. I'm sorry Clementine. If there is a Heaven, though, if God does open his pearly gates for any ol' son bitch who's been good - then I'm not gonna end up there - so, talk to Kat, and Sarita, and Duck. Let 'em know how Goddamn sorry I am."

Kenny prised the gun from Clem's hand, turned around, and marched forward. "C'mon. We gotta reach that city."

**Oh wow that sucked. Sorry I just didn't know how to end it. Please review! :3 **


End file.
